Evil Twin is the fusion of two different flavours of Hip Hop from JeriQ and PsychoYP. You have the immensely talented and ever-surprising PsychoYP running amok through the five tracks that compose this Extended Play. The words for this, as my co-writer, Badniss, ‘[Psycho]YP ate it up’.
PsychoYP was on most of the hooks, bouncing with the rhythms and showing us new ways with which we can sing along to already-known rhythms. Evil Twin may have two artists on the roll, but the music was definitely commandeered by one of them.
Not that JeriQ doesn’t contribute anything. He brings the flow of Eastern hip-hop that grounds this track and expands the reach of this project. If one imagines how this project was done, one would easily see that JeriQ is the anchor, the overseer, and the ground of the track. His appearance creates another floor for PsychoYP to jettison off of.
The songs are short but long enough to hook you, striking the perfect balance between enjoyment and the efficiency of time usage. The cut off at the height, so you would want to repeat them over and over.
Disintegrate starts out with a bounce. This a drill song, but PsychoYP makes it his own, bringing a fresh flow into the track, “It sounds like Trap but a UK version. Nobody is doing what he is doing,” Badniss interjects here. And JeriQ, perhaps unintentionally, shows us how alive the Igbo language can come when there’s drill rap involved.
No stylist is perhaps the crowd pleaser. There is a Wizkid sample here. The popular alarms that heralded the Azonto era in 2013 are the roots upon which this track was founded. And, of course, PsychoYP takes over. The flow is impeccable. The use of silence heightens the effect of the sample. We don’t hear JeriQ here. This is clearly not his field.
First Milli celebrates the joy of earning our first big buck over black church instrumentals, interspersing samples, and saxophonic chords here and there to enjoin the celebratory mood of the jam. It has a high likelihood of crossing over.
Breaking News is a heavily South Eastern Nigerian affair. Phyno is listed on the track, effectively stealing the show with his carriage of the hook. But PsychoYP still takes the cake with his verse on this cut.
The titular track, Evil Twin, is the longest on this EP. It should be the closer. Both rappers attempt to fuse their styles here into a strong monolith of a track. It doesn’t work as well as it should, no fault of theirs, but it still presents an enjoyable ride.
“JeriQ is a businessman. This EP is a business transaction,” Badniss says.
PsychoYP remains the musical center of this EP, smashing every target with pure musical force. However, it is JeriQ that makes the whole thing possible.
